Diclaimer:
Normally I try to avoid spoilers as much as possible, however in the case of
this review I have to bring up key plot points from both the movie and the book
to explain how the film does or doesn’t work. Sincerest apologies
Although it may not seem like it, it’s been
11 years since Peter Jackson brought his first epic to a close with The Return
of The King. To put it simply, it was film like no other. To this day it still
holds a 95% on Rotten Tomatoes and a 94 on Metacritic, and at the 2004 Oscars
it swept all 11 categories it was nominated for; including Best Picture. In
fact it’s so good that it’s done something that I wish it hadn’t done. It’s
made the flaws in the Hobbit trilogy that much more apparent.
This year, the second epic trilogy by Peter
Jackson concludes with The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. To say that I was excited for seeing this movie
would be a gross understatement. Every time I saw a trailer I couldn’t help but
lament at how far away December 17th was. And, with how The Desolation of Smaug was a much better movie in comparison to An Unexpected Journey, it seemed that this film was going to be even better. So
when I came out of the theatre with my friends on opening night, I felt both
incredibly satisfied and yet slightly disappointed. The film is great, as good
as The Desolation of Smaug if not better. But as a huge fan of the book,
elements of the movie’s plot and deviations from book left a slightly sour
aftertaste. As an aside, I’m usually one to let differences between the book
and the movie slide, even in the last two Hobbit movies. But for a reason I can’t
quite explain, I couldn’t it let go. I’m going to expand on this further later in
the review, but as quick abstract before I get on with it: In many ways The
Battle of the Five Armies is the best way to end the hobbit trilogy, but the
decisions and deviations made in the previous films come back to sully the
quality of this final chapter.
Plot,
Pacing, and Performances
The film encompasses the last portion of
the book, which really boils down to the last few chapters. This includes the death of Smaug, the titular battle of the five armies, and well… the aftermath
of the battle of the five armies. One of the issues with the entire trilogy has always
been what it is trying to accomplish, expanding one book into three. While the
first two movies accomplished this relatively well, the third movie feels both
well paced and rushed. In that sense the film just does what it says
exactly what is says on the tin. There’s a battle, people die, good guys win,
Bilbo goes home, the end. If you were to watch the trilogy all in one go in a
supercut, this would feel ok, but since it is a stand alone feature… it
feels odd as the third part. And yet because of its flaws, this feels like the
most fitting ending to the trilogy.
Despite the film’s odd pacing, the
performances are superb, especially of leads Martin Freeman and Richard
Armitage, who both in my opinion are reason enough to see the film. Everyone
else does a great job as well, with the exception of Legolas; who doesn’t do a
bad job by any means, but seems to have been reduced to “guy who does all the
ludicrous action shots”. No amount “My mother died here” or “Daddy doesn’t love
me enough” can really bring depth to his character. In fact there’s so
much of “The Battle” that it’s Bilbos and Thorin’s interactions that feel the
most real, the attempted love subplot with Tauriel and Kili while nice felt a
bit contrived, especially if you’ve read the books and know what’s about to
happen. Which brings me to my next points and my main issues with the
film, the deviations from the book.
Differences
(Major spoilers)
I should first point out that there are
some differences between the book and the movie that work better, The death
scenes of Kili, Fili, and Thorin being the prime example. In the book they aren’t handled that well,
especially with Thorin on his deathbed in a tent dying from his wounds. In the
film it’s that much more real and heart-breaking, especially his final words
with Bilbo. We feel the palpable emotion as Bilbo struggles to keep himself
together as he looses a dear friend. What didn’t work was again this focus on
the doomed romance between Kili and Tauriel. How a dwarf managed to woo an elf
who has been alive significantly longer than he has in two days seems really
stupid. Now if they had done it like a friendship a la gimili and legolas I
might have felt not as annoyed, but the fact that she is so distraught by his
death at the end seems incredibly unrealistic, even as I try to suspend disbelief.
The other gripe I have with the film’s use
of the source material is the ending. It ends with the where we started in Bag
End with the beginning of the Lord of the Rings. In the book it ends with Bilbo
being visited by Balin and it’s all sunshine and rainbows. Now, this gripe
really stems from how they started the first movie with essentially the film hand-holding the audience to remember that this was a prequel trilogy. However,
I can’t help but think the ending felt rushed and not really a conclusion to
Bilbo’s adventure, but really just “and
now on to Lord of The Rings”. Maybe if there’s an extended scene with this part
of the book, We could make a supercut with the footage to suit my preferences, but alas I
doubt that’s the case.
Back
Again
As an end to the trilogy, this film does
the best it can do given the circumstances.
It had a good, but rough start, a great middle, and an action-packed and
fun finale. Deviations aside, it did a great job portraying the story of the
hobbit in Peter Jackson’s vision. The trilogy itself might never hold up
against it’s big brother, it’s was still really fun journey that I will still
aways want to go there and back again.
Score:
8.5/10
